Be True

Right after the Board of Ed election this week, comes the latest Board of Trustees election on May 10. For those people who do not follow local politics, there are four seats up for election this year - 3 Trustee seats (currently held by Mark Rosner, Howard Levison and Deborah Davis Ford) and the Village President seat (currently held by Doug Newman).

Several weeks ago, we learned that at the filing deadline, the 3 Trustee seats will be uncontested by the 3 Trustees currently occupying them. Congratulations to my colleagues on being willing to serve another 4 years.

We also learned that Doug Newman decided not to run again and the Village President seat is being contested between current Trustee, Janine Bauer, and newcomer, Alex Torpey.

As most people know, I ran together with Janine Bauer two years ago (along with Nancy Gould) and I wholeheartedly endorse her taking the next step as our next Village President. As an attorney, Janine has an incredible depth of knowledge on many issues. I've worked closely with Janine over the past 2 years and have seen her logical and analytical approach to every issue. Having worked alongside President Newman these past 4 years, I have seen firsthand the incredibly complex and difficult issues that must be addressed by the Village President. From contract negotiations, to legal issues, to personnel issues, to financial issues, to public relations issues, and overall leadership - the job of Village President is incredibly demanding and requires tremendously broad experience. Janine Bauer in the only candidate that has the experience, maturity and demeanor to lead our Village for the next 4 years.

I actually know Alex reasonably well, think highly of him and commend him for stepping up to run for a difficult and often thankless position. However, having seen what the role of Village President really entails, I simply cannot discount the one quality that only comes with time - experience. Janine Bauer has the experience. I hope you will join me in supporting her for Village President on May 10.

The Rising

In past years, I have resisted getting involved in Board of Education elections for a variety of reasons. However, this year, the stakes are simply too high and I could no longer sit on the sidelines without expressing my opinion. This year, I wholeheartedly am endorsing Marian Cutler and her running-mate, Jim LoStuto.

Not that many years ago, our school district was top-ranked in the state. However, most recently, NJ Monthly Magazine ranked our High School 75th out of 322. That is simply not good enough. (By comparison, our neighbor in Millburn was ranked 1 and Glen Ridge was ranked 4) We need members of the Board of Education that are focused on increasing rigor in our curriculum, so our District can re-capture the "prestige" it once had. There is simply nothing more important to our community and our property values than the quality of our school district. In addition, we need members of the Board of Education, who realize that a "one size fits all model" simply does not work. The School District needs to take into account differing abilities and objectively provide varied levels that work to the students' varied abilities.

As I said in my letter to the News Record,we need people on the Board who are willing to make tough decisions and fight to ensure that our kids receive the best possible education. In these challenging economic times, that requires creativity and a willingness to think outside the box and beyond the status quo. As a member of the South Orange Board of Trustees, I know firsthand how difficult it is to balance state mandated caps, the demands of Union contracts and the passionate needs and wants of our diverse community. The balance that the School Board must find is no different. However, with the School Budget consuming over 56% of every resident's incredibly high tax bill, it is critical to elect someone who is vividly aware of the tax burden but is willing and able to look at things differently to move our District forward, despite the challenges.

I have known Marian Cutler for several years and know that there is nobody more passionate and dedicated to our kids and our District. Marian Cutler is willing to devote the time and energy required to be an effective leader and an advocate for a strong rigorous education that fully prepares all of our kids for the intensely competitive world that we all live in. Her corporate expertise in Public Relations will bring increased transparency to the Board so we can all be further engaged in decisions that impact the education of our kids. Finally, as an outsider to the Board of Education she will bring a fresh perspective, innovation and creative thinking to education, yet ensuring our excessive tax burden is controlled. Together, her and Jim LoStuto bring a wealth of professionalism, passion and knowledge which will benefit all of our kids and the entire District.

I urge you to join me in supporting Marian Cutler and Jim LoStuto for Board of Education on April 27.

The Wish

At our most recent Budget Workshop held on March 3, we reviewed a number of departments, including Recreation, Code Enforcement and Health, as well as funding for one of the nonprofit organizations - the Community Coalition on Race (CCR) which consumed the largest portion of time.

I have made no secret that I have issues with much of the "politics" of the CCR, including their lobbying of the School District for delevelling and their lobbying of Trenton on Affordable Housing legislation. However, politics aside, in reviewing their financials & financial model in comparison to other nonprofits, both supported and not supported by the Village, it became apparent that something is not right. First, unlike the other organizations supported by the Village, they pay rent plus a significant amount for telephone and internet connectivity. To rectify this, I proposed that we locate appropriate space within either Village Hall or The Baird and provide them space in lieu of a financial subsidy.

Secondly, reviewing a list of other nonprofits in our community, I identified numerous valuable organizations that receive ZERO Municipal dollars, utilizing other models to sustain themselves. Finally, many supporters of the CCR claimed that if we support integration we MUST provide them a subsidy. My response is that we (both as individuals and as a community) support the following organizations, yet we do not provide a taxpayer subsidy to prove it:

Achieve
Improves the academic skills of children in-need by matching them with trained volunteer tutors from the local communities. Every year, 150 ACHIEVE volunteers provide over 2,500 hours of free tutoring to 250 students in grades K-12, who are referred for extra help by their teachers and guidance counselors. ACHIEVE recruits volunteers - professionals, retirees, parents and high school and college students - from local groups and organizations and the community-at-large.

Adult School of South Orange/Maplewood
Offers a wide array of affordable, high-quality classes, lectures, and trips to more than 1,600 local residents each semester

First Night of Maplewood/South Orange
Provides an alcohol-free family-friendly way for the Community to celebrate New Years Eve

Jersey Animal Coalition
Provides homeless dogs and cats with medical attention, shelter, and boarding, and find them permanent loving homes. Based in South Orange, New Jersey, but place animals throughout the state and nearby states. Since its founding, rescued over 6,500 stray and abandoned pets. Without JAC's intervention, these animals would most likely have been euthanized in pounds or left to die on the streets.

JESPY House
An extraordinary program for adults with learning and developmental disabilities who demonstrate the ability to live independently and gain competitive employment.

Lions Club of South Orange
Lions are an international network of 1.3 million men and women in 202 countries and geographic areas who work together to answer the needs that challenge communities around the world. Known for working to end preventable blindness, Lions participate in a vast variety of projects important to their communities. These projects range from cleaning up local parks to providing supplies to victims of natural disasters.

Montrose Park Historic District Association
Promote, preserve and beautify the Montrose Park Historic District, maintain its integrity and enhance the quality of life for its residents. Promotes promote public awareness and sensitivity to the history and architectural significance of the Montrose Park Historic District through house tours, lectures, beautification programs and other projects.

Newcomers Club of South Orange/Maplewood
Extends a warm welcome to newcomers in both South Orange and Maplewood. Has about 100 member households and run 15 to 20 activities each month. Hosts a monthly General Meeting and offer a wide variety of activities, programs and services in an effort to acquaint new residents with the area and to promote camaraderie and lasting friendships.

South Mountain Peace Action
A community organization based in the towns of Maplewood and South Orange, New Jersey. Works for peaceful alternatives to war and for changing our national priorities to reduce excessive military spending and to increase resources for human needs and the environment. Holds an annual Be About Peace Day in March and many events and actions for peace during the year.

South Orange Historical & Preservation Society
The goal of the organization is to further the study of the history and architecture of the Village of South Orange, New Jersey.

South Orange Rescue Squad
The primary emergency medical service for South Orange Village. Provides basic Life Support ambulance service free of charge to residents and visitors and provide assistance to our neighboring communities. On duty every night from 6:00 PM until 6:00 AM and on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday around the clock. When not on duty, provides back up service to the paid agency that covers the town. Approximately fifty members are unpaid volunteers who received their initial medical training from the Rescue Squad

South Orange Rotary
Rotary club members are a diverse group working to address various community and international service needs. Through community service, Rotary club members help promote peace and understanding throughout the world.

South Orange / Maplewood Interfaith Holocaust Remembrance Committee
Dedicated to preserving and honoring the memory of the six million Jews and 5 million other victims of the Nazi reign.

I certainly don't think anyone in good conscience could critique the value these organizations bring to the community, yet they do so without funding by the taxpayers. Other financial models do exist and the CCR must find which alternative model works for them in order to cease reliance on the taxpayers.

Darkness on the Edge of Town

Last night was a meeting of the Board of School Estimate - a joint body of representatives from Maplewood, South Orange and the Board of Education - to vote upon the proposed capital budget for the current year. While the total amount being considered was $4,555,753 for a variety of projects, such as roof replacements, mechanical upgrades, sidewalks and parking lots, the one issue that garnered the most attention was the expenditure of $50,000 for lights at the Underhill Field sports complex.

This issue came before the Board of Education 1.5 years ago, when they were planning to spend $100,000 (of the $200,000 total project cost) from the operating budget. For a variety of reasons, the School Board voted against that, but the project never went away. Since that time, I have heard from many residents who live near the property and have concerns that lights on a turf field will negatively impact their quality of life. As we heard last night, the lights are proposed to be in use an average of 5 nights per week during the Fall and Spring.

Although I was inclined to not support the project, once I learned that no effort was made to notice homeowners that live near the property (not to mention the fact that the vote was held during a snowstorm), I felt strongly that the process was flawed and I could not vote for a project that we KNEW the public has concerns about, but were not informed about the meeting. In fact the vote was not even posted on the District website or covered by any of our local media, so unless someone reads the fine print in the legal notices of the newspaper, they would not even have known the vote was taking place.

When a someone buys a home, they have the right to expect a certain quality of life based on the location of the home. If you live next to a train track, you have to expect a certain level of noise. If you live next to a park, you have to expect a certain level of activity in the park. If you live near a football stadium, you have to expect some level of inconvenience due to noise or parking. However, in this case, the residents did NOT have the expectation of games and the associated noise (and light) running into the nighttime hours. A big reason that applications go before a Planning Board is so if dramatic changes are proposed to occur, public hearings are heard, restrictions are imposed and memorialized and everything is documented in an open, transparent and fair way. However, for some unknown reason, we are told that a Board of Education is exempt from this process. That just makes no sense to me.

In this day and age of belt-tightening and cutbacks, spending money on a luxury like field lighting seems inappropriate. To make things worse, to do it without the people most impacted invited to participate in the dialog seems just plain wrong. Unfortunately, my colleagues did not agree and the funding was approved. However, I am proud to have voted "no" on behalf of the residents who couldn't.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

This week we continued our Budget Workshop series by reviewing the Capital Budget and identifying the priorities for the upcoming year. There were a total of $11.3M in projects that were suggested, with about half of that money coming from existing capital funds, and the balance coming from new capital, grants, open space fund and the operating budget. The biggest projects anticipated to be addressed in 2011 are:

• Village Hall renovation
• Resurfacing about 10 streets
• Improvements to the Crest Drive Firehouse
• Planning for the Baird renovations
• Open Space Acquisitions
• Next phase of the River Corridor project

Another topic discussed was the Holiday Schedule for Village employees in 2011. After doing a comparison of current holidays in the Village, it is apparent that the Village is quite out of line with other organizations. For example, most corporations provide 7 holidays to employees, typically:

• New Year’s Day
• Memorial Day
• Independence Day
• Labor Day
• Thanksgiving Day
• Day After Thanksgiving
• Christmas Day

The Federal Government adds the following for their employees:

• Martin Luther King's Birthday
• President's Day
• Columbus Day
• Veterans Day

and eliminates the Day After Thanksgiving for a total of 10 holidays.

South Orange, further adds:

• Lincoln's Birthday
• Good Friday
• Election Day
• Christmas Eve
• the Day After Thanksgiving

for a total of 15 holidays annually, in addition to 4-5 weeks of paid vacation! In this day and age of cost cutting, downsizing and increasing efficiency, it seems quite excessive to provide the equivalent of two full months of paid time off each year.

I'd love to hear how many holidays YOU get in YOUR job.

Pay Me My Money Down

As we wind down the year, it's time again to ramp up the Budget discussions for 2011. This past week, we held the first Budget Workshop and focused on the subsidy for the four nonprofit organizations that receive money from the Village - Youthnet, Community Coalition on Race, SOPAC and Main Street.

We began with an overview of the outlook for 2011 and 2012, in general. The "good" news is that if we kept everything flat, we would "only" have a 3.5% increase in 2011 (if we find another $240k in revenue or cuts) and a 7.6% increase in 2012. (Once again, the biggest drivers being healthcare and pension increases). However, this does not account for having ANY capital expenditures (street paving, significant building improvements, Fire Equipment etc) which obviously is not realistic. So, as a result, we once again are faced with the big challenge of weighing our options and determining if there are additional "revenue enhancements" (ok...tax increases) or spending cuts that can be found.

With that framing the discussion, we reviewed the budgets of the 4 nonprofits in intimate detail and their respective financial requests:

• Youthnet - requested $15k; accepted by the Board with the suggestion that Youthnet should work to increase its fundraising from the community
• Community Coalition on Race - requested $22.5; after a lengthy discussion, concerns were raised about the expenses for the organization, such as payroll for 3 employees, rent expenses and $200/month in telecommunications expenses. In addition, as discussed previously, the CCRs involvement in divisive and political issues continues to be a concern of the BOT. No decision on funding was reached.
• SOPAC - requested $337,000, an increase from the $229,500 that was provided in 2010. Extensive discussion was held and, in the end, the BOT agreed to maintain the same level of support as 2010 ($229,500) for now, with the option to revise it closer to SOPAC's requested amount once we had better clarity on the rest of the budget.
• Main Street - requested $50k; accepted by the Board but it was noted that the additional $12k provided last year for Downtown After Sundown will be raised by the Citizens Public Safety Committee for 2011.

In addition, we agreed to ensure there were contractual agreements between the Village and each of these entities to ensure that they are performing to service levels specified and meeting goals specified by the Village.

We obviously still have a LONG way to go for the upcoming Budget with many more Workshops to come.

Light of Day

This evening, I was invited to participate in a "Light Walk" with representatives from Seton Hall. This was organized by SGA president, Melissa Boege, to allow us to see the streets of South Orange at night through the eyes of students. Together with Police Chief Chelel, we walked from the Wilden Gate, along Eder Terr, College Place, Fairview Ave, Gardiner Ave, Riggs Place, Grove Road and Turrell Ave during the nighttime hours to observe the residential streets at night. Over the years, there have been a number of muggings outside the Seton Hall gates and we are always looking for ways to reduce crime.

The most glaring issue I noticed was the huge number of homes that did not bother to simply have a porch light turned on outside. In all neighborhoods, especially where the homes are relatively close to the street, the light provided by porch lights makes an enormous difference in the perceived (and real) safety of the area. We all love the gaslights in South Orange, but everyone knows that they provide limited light, resulting in dark sidewalks which is only further exasperated when homeowners do not keep their home lit up.

It is so simple these days to install a light sensor on your porch light which causes the light to automatically turn on at dusk and turn off at dawn. The incremental energy cost of leaving a light on all night is so minuscule that it is probably the simplest and easiest thing you can do to protect your home, as well as the pedestrians that walk along the sidewalks at night.

I encourage everyone to spread the word to your friends and neighbors - for the benefit of everyone, please turn on your porch light and keep it on all night!